The graffiti had appeared on the school, a school bus parked out front and on a nearby sign for Our Lady of Grace Monastery, around 8 p.m. Monday evening.

“It was dark at the time,” said Ford Rice, superintendent of the Strait Regional School Board, on Wednesday.

“The full extent of graffiti — the racially and culturally insensitive messages — wasn’t fully evident until the morning when people got to school.”

Rice added that the graffiti-covered school bus wasn’t moved because staff were uncertain as to whether that would interfere in a police investigation and then all the available bus drivers were tied up bringing students to school.

“It was unfortunate we couldn’t get the bus moved before (students arrived),” said Rice.

“Throughout the day our janitorial staff cleaned markings and what couldn’t be cleaned we covered up. A professional sandblasting crew was brought in to remove markings on the concrete . . . it was quite a lot (of graffiti).”

Shortly after Whalen got home, the Paqtnkek First Nation decided to bring the rest of its nearly 100 students home early.

At 11 a.m. Tuesday, a student at the Antigonish Education Centre made a Facebook post stating: “From listening in on random conversations around the school apparently people are saying the Button Bandits are planning to shoot up the school. . . . Nobody actually knows who’s involved with the bandits or if they’re even planning anything. It’s just a group of racists looking to stir up trouble.”

RCMP officers who were present to investigate the graffiti stayed at the school all day.

School was cancelled Wednesday morning and as the RCMP interviewed people in the community — investigating both the racist graffiti and the threats — the traditional media descended with video cameras and notebooks, and social media exploded with outrage.

“There were threats made against the school,” said Cpl. Dal Hutchinson of the RCMP.

“The incident from yesterday coupled with these threats has had a significant impact on the students, the school and the community itself. . . . Our priority now is confirming the validity to these threats.”

While leaders like Rice and MLA Randy Delorey made statements about racism not being tolerated, some parents were warning that it is more prevalent than polite society cares to admit.

“Racism is something we have to deal with on a daily basis, whether it’s in the school, outside the school or in (Antigonish),” said Donna Bernard.

The Paqtnkek First Nation member had three children, ages five, seven and 11, at the East Antigonish Education Centre on Tuesday.

“My oldest has suffered a lot because of racism,” said Bernard.

“One thing he’s been called a lot is a ‘savage.’ There was an incident where one student said ‘oh what are you going to do, scalp me now?’ He’s been told he’s a stupid native.”

Bernard said she’s complained to school staff and the school board but has seen no action.

The graffiti wasn’t just directed at First Nations students, but also at the black community.

This area of northern Nova Scotia, between Antigonish and the community of Guysborough, served by the school is home to not just African Nova Scotians and Mi’kmaq but also people of Acadian, Metis, Scottish, Irish and Dutch descent.

Local historian Jack Desmond said racial tensions have long simmered in the area.

“We used to talk about it all the time, then all of a sudden people came to conclusion that it is in remission. The last 10 years it has become more prevalent again.”

The various racial communities of the area have a long history of living side by side.

The black settlers arrived in 1784 from southwest Nova Scotia — building homes near Boylston.

A land grant of 3,000 acres was provided in 1786 to the black loyalist settlers in what is now Monastery.

“Then 2,800 acres of that was given to the Acadians,” said Desmond.

“Our ancestors had to move inland to squat on very poor soil in what is now Lincolnville.”

The Acadians themselves had been driven off prime farmland they had created over generations by the English.

Then there were the Mi’kmaq who had called the entire area home.

“We were fenced off in our reserve, like a park,” said Kerry Prosper, a band councillor with the Paqtnkek First Nation.

“If you consider our people were here for 14,000 years, you wouldn’t find anywhere that their feet didn’t touch in this country.”

Both Prosper and Desmond are students of their peoples’ history. They both have felt the sting of racism and both warn that the present is created by the past, that those who spray hate on the school the entire community shares and those who called Bernard’s son a “savage” got their anger from somewhere — even if they don’t know the history behind it.

“It’s the history that we come from,” said Prosper.

“Everyone at that school, whether they were from our community, the black community or the white community, was a victim of that act.”

On Wednesday afternoon, Rice was waiting on an update from the RCMP investigation to determine if the school would be opened on Thursday.

But when it does open there will be RCMP officers present and representatives from the various communities.

“During that assembly we want to have the opportunity to hear from students and learn their concerns,” said Rice.

“We want to develop an action plan on how to move forward. It has certainly elevated some of the issues in the school. That’s the first step in moving forward.”